Lash of the Cat
by Keshtarii
Summary: A half Indian, half Spanish girl is considered an abomination in both her parents' cultures for what she is. She has never seen another shape shifter besides her family, so when she goes off to college, she's surprised to meet a male werewolf in the woods
1. Chapter 1 Teaser

characters except my own belong to Kelly Armstrong. I'm just elaborating, collaborating and borrowing her beautiful work to get the ideas out of my head!

Lash of the Cat

Ch. 1: Teaser

I tore off chasing the chipmunk, leaving the boys behind in the woods. Sure, the fuzzy woodland creature wouldn't even be a snack to me, in any form, but it was cute and fun to chase. Almost as fun as those sadistic fluffy-tailed nuisances back home that are hilariously called fox squirrels. I mused as I chased the chipmunk that there was nothing foxy about those damn squirrels, and ignored my surroundings while I was having my fun. I didn't think there would be any other predators in these woods that would be stupid enough to challenge me or the boys, so why should I care about my surroundings? The boys weren't gonna be chasing after me any time soon, and they knew I needed to burn off some energy and frustrations. So, I just barreled through the woods after that cute striped rodent, not even paying attention enough to have my nose or ears alert me to dangers.

Big mistake.

He jumped out of the woods into my path from somewhere off my right side, and I barreled right into him, unable to stop in time. We both went down, a tangle of wolfy legs. He was huge! I snarled at him, and jumped up as quickly as I could untangle myself, and quickly went on the defensive. How dare another wolf come interrupt my game of chase and make me lose my prey! It was only then that I actually looked at him, and saw that his fur was almost midnight black, and his green eyes were completely out of place in the face of your average wolf. This was no natural wolf. He growled at me, and took off, continuing down the path that I had just cut through the forest.

It only took me a moment for fear to settle into my gut. He was following my path back to the boys, and I couldn't let him reach them without at least trying to give warning. I sprang forward, racing back down the path after him, my prey forgotten, and surprisingly found myself shoulder to shoulder with another large wolf. I pulled back long enough to catch a glimpse of what had glided out of the forest to race evenly with me, and saw that this massive wolf was blond. He turned his face to growl a low warning, and I saw he had ice blue eyes that would fit better in a human face than wolf's.

I don't know if it was the low growled warning, or the challenge that another creature thought himself faster than me, but I bared my teeth at him in a sneer and took off as fast as I could after my original challenger, leaving the blond one in my dust. I've been brought up to be an independent woman, and whupping these two mutts, no matter HOW big they are, seemed like the most fun I could have this week. That, and I don't do well with threats…

I let out a howl as I was just about to overtake the black wolf. We were too close for comfort to the boys, and I wanted to give them fair warning that we'd be barreling into their napping place. My howl obviously made the black wolf nervous, because he briefly shied like a nervous filly, breaking his long stride just long enough for me to finish overtaking him. A few moments later, I no more than took my open opportunity to take down the black wolf than I heard a reply yowl above me, and felt the thump of two large animals landing on either side of me and my new prey. I didn't have to look up to know that what had descended from the trees was a pair of nearly identical jaguars, and I didn't have to hear their growl to know that if I couldn't take this wolf down alone, they'd do it for me. Gotta love overprotective older brothers… Always looking out for a gal and watching her back!

I went to pin the black wolf right about the same time the blond one slid to a stop in front of our party. By the deep rumbling emitting from his chest, he wasn't exactly pleased at the situation. Then again, very few creatures actually like the boys. It had something to do with them being higher predators, and everything seeming like prey… Oh well. The black definitely wasn't happy about the situation either, and grabbed me by my left front leg and tried to flip me off him and into the woods. As I'm a pretty average sized wolf, and he had at LEAST 60lbs on me, this shouldn't have been a difficult thing to do. Too bad he was just a regular wolf and I'm not. Well, that at least is how I looked at it since he couldn't seem to get me off my feet. Ah, the fun of magic! He did at least manage to dump me off his back and onto my side. I guess that's when he finally scented what I am, because before I could blink, he was trying to mount me, and had me half pinned to the forest floor.

I let out a low irritated growl, and the boys sprang into action.


	2. Chapter 2 Cats and Dogs

Ch 2. Cats and Dogs

I let out a low irritated growl, and the boys sprang into action.

Cayo and Teό tend to be a little too overprotective of me sometimes, and while most of the time it chafes me that they still think of me as some helpless little girl, sometimes their big brother mentality comes in handy. This happened to be one of those times. Unfortunately, I tend to smell like the most desirable thing on the planet to pretty much every male with a decent sense of smell, but I'm pretty naturally disinclined to being raped by a giant animal. So I was more than happy to let them permanently take care of the brute from that point on.

Teό, with one massive paw swipe, knocked the black wolf on his side, effectively dumping him off of me. Cayo then bit down on the wolf's bleeding head, crushing the skull with his powerful jaw and ending any potential future problems I might have had with the mutt. The almost mirror image jaguars seemed to expend no effort while saving my hide, and almost looked bored by having to rescue me… again.

Wonderful. That mean they were going to tell my parents. If there's one thing that irritates me more than the boys treating me like a helpless little girl, is my parents lecturing me like I'm a naughty child. And none of them are ever actually willing to let me grow up. Great.

I wasn't about to just sit there and cower to them. I jumped up and shifted to human, which fortunately only took a few short minutes. I was going to give them a piece of my mind, and I couldn't do that in wolf form.

"Oh no you don't!" I screamed at the jags. "I could have handled one little wolf all by myself, and you two know it! You have no right to go tell Mom and Dad—" Cayo cut me off with a roar, and both the boys prowled past into a defensive position behind me. The blond wolf lay a few feet beyond them. Shit. I had forgotten about him.

I turned around and watched with fascination as his skin began to writhe, and he began to change. It was like watching the boys change, but this was a wolf! Wait, does that mean the werewolf legends are true? Fuck. I'm gonna have some explaining to do to Mom and Dad…

I knelt down and put a hand on both boys' shoulders, non-verbally telling them that I didn't think of the blond as a threat; not yet anyway. Together we waited in rapt fascination (ok, maybe I was the only one that was fascinated… who knows what the boys were thinking) as the blond wolf slowly transformed into a man with blond curls, blue eyes, and a body the Greeks would have worshiped like a god. When he was done, he stayed kneeling, panting as the change ended. I decided to do the neighborly thing for once. I admit, he had my curiosity piqued, and I wasn't going to let this opportunity get away, or killed, before I could at least start to satisfy my thirst for knowledge.

"Umm, hi?" I called, hoping he understood English and was in a talkative mood. "My name's Pίa. Are you a werewolf?"

The blond gave a throaty chuckle. I guess he DOES understand English…

"Shouldn't you be asking my name first?" chuckled the blond sarcastically, his southern drawl making him sound like some of the locals from back home. Huh, I didn't think there were very many southerners up near Purdue. In fact, I thought I had met pretty much every one of them on campus already.

I stood up and crossed my arms across my chest and began tapping my foot. I wasn't going to put up with attitude from a mutt. He looked up at me and laughed harder this time, hanging his head as he did so. "You've got the same look as my wife right about now" he panted out through a laugh, and then tried to compose himself. "Clayton. Clayton Danvers is my name" he said, dramatically pausing as if we were supposed to react to this new knowledge. "And yes, I'm a werewolf."

At that point the blond named Clayton (wait, when did wolves start having first and last names? And why does that name sound vaguely familiar…?) got to his feet and looked me and my brothers over. "I'd say that currently the fair thing to do would be for you to reign in your cats, and for you to tell me what you are and why I shouldn't either kill you outright, or at least drag you in front of the supernatural council for interfering with Pack business" he said with a hard icy look. Too bad the slight smirk on his lips marred the seriousness his voice tried to relay.

"EXCUSE ME?" I popped back in reply. "I already TOLD you who I am. And you have no right to be demanding answers from me! What, do you think you OWN this forest or something? 'Cause last time I checked this is a national park, and the GOVERNMENT owns it." He had rubbed me the wrong way, and I was in no mood to take more attitude and lip, and especially not from some human mutt I just met. "WE don't owe YOU anything" I said, dramatically emphasizing my point with my hands. Teό looked back at me with his time honored glare of exasperation, and chuffed at me to hush. Damn, I overdid it again, didn't I?

Teό then turned and moved slightly behind me, and started his change. The blond obviously was not amused by my comment, and was keeping watch more on me and Cayo, the more obvious threats. Ok, so only my mouth and Cayo were the threats. I knew I wouldn't have a chance taking him on in human form. But he was still paying us more attention than Teό, once he realized Teό was staying within visual range (even if my figure and a bit of random foliage did block the majority of what was happening to him).

The blond named Clayton was obviously not impressed by how far I could metaphorically stick my foot in my mouth. "Darlin' I didn't say you were in my territory, I said you interfered in Pack business" he drawled. He called me darlin'… I REALLY hate it when guys I'm not dating call me darlin'. "Now" he continued, "I do suggest you follow my previous example and be so kind as to introduce yourself properly and tell me what kind of supernatural you are. Otherwise I'll be forced to drag you in front of the Supernatural Council and…" his sentence trailed off as Teό's grunts of pain caught his attention.

The blond named Clayton took a few steps to the side to get a better glimpse at what Teό was doing. "Is that cat…CHANGING?" the blond asked with a look of pure surprise on his face. "Yup!" I replied simply, with a smug look on mine. His ice blue eyes darted back and forth between me and Teό a few times before the dawning look of comprehension made him stare at Teό with wide eyes and a look of shock. And that's when I heard the sound of boots coming down the dirt path towards us. We were about to have company, Teό was still mid-change, and Cayo was not thrilled about either of those. Shit, we were fucked.


	3. Chapter 3 Getting to Know You

Ch. 3 Getting to Know You

So, we had a goggling naked blond named Clayton staring with rapt interest at Teό and trying to slowly move to where he could watch my brother change, and a defensive jaguar Cayo trying to make sure to keep between the blond and Teό and me (which, mind you is not a pleasant thing to do when you have a werewolf in front of you that is determined to get a better look), a naked Me, who is just a LITTLE pissed off at this point, a form changing Teό, who is trying to rush through his change, and suffering through the pain, and finally we have guests storming up the path towards us.

And we're naked.

Great, I'm standing smack dab in the middle of a standoff, and we're about to have visitors to watch the showdown. AND I'M NAKED! I REALLY don't feel like explaining to a bunch of strangers what I'm doing standing in the middle of a national park in Indiana IN THE FALL, with a naked stranger, my naked brother lying on the ground behind me (if he can finish changing before they get here, that is), and a jaguar standing in front of a HUGE dead wolf, all while I'm wearing nothing but my birthday suit! 'Oh, Officer, I was just going for a jog with my brother when this large cat jumped out of the woods chasing the wolf, followed by this other guy, and all clothes just MAGICALLY disappeared after my brother tripped and fell…' Yeah, that's not gonna go over well with the gringo policia. At best, we'd be charged with public indecency. At worst, we'd be stuck in a loony bin somewhere. Ok, maybe that wasn't the potential worst thing, but that's what my brain was sticking with.

So I started to panic. I looked over at Teό in hopes that he was either able to rush his change enough to be human, or reverse it and still be a jaguar. No such luck. He was currently still more jaguar than human, but he wasn't about to try and stop the change for fear of getting stuck. That's one of the only things the boys had ever envied me for… having a form with a fairly quick change.

"Clay!" called a voice from down the path. "Clay! Where are you?" The voice was male and had an accent, and I assumed that it belonged to the clomping boots that were coming down the path towards us. The blond named Clayton didn't seem to hear him calling, or wasn't paying attention, at least. Another black wolf loped out of the woods first, followed shortly by a guy who couldn't have been any older than me. The black wolf slid up next to the blond named Clayton, and took a defensive stance while beginning to growl at Cayo and me. Oh great, we were gonna have a furry standoff… except the challengers have no clue they're horribly outgunned. They might as well have brought .22 pistols to face off against a set of Howitzers. Alright, maybe they weren't QUITE that unevenly matched…

The human in boots finally caught glimpse of the blond named Clayton. "Clay! Have you caught the—whoa, who is that?" Apparently the human in boots finally caught on to the fact that they weren't alone in the woods. He kept shifting his gaze between me and the blond, but he seemed to linger a little longer on my naked form. I crossed my arms in irritation and shot him a "fuck off" look. The black wolf was still trying to do a Mexican Standoff with Cayo, and when the human in boots reached over and touched the blond named Clayton's shoulder, the blond finally snapped out of his trance of staring at Teό's transformation, and realized we had company.

"Nick, enough," said the blond to the black wolf. The black wolf sat with a whine. Who knew you could train wolves like dogs? I'd have to remember that trick for the future. The blond then turned to the human in boots. "Reece, go phone Jer and the pack and let them know that the mutt is dead. And tell Elena she might want to get one of those damn council members down here fast. We might have a situation."

The boots named Reece looked back over at me and Cayo with wide eyes, and took off up the path, fumbling to get something out of his pocket. I can only assume it was a cell phone he was trying to extract while he retreated back up the way he came. I stepped forward and tapped Cayo on the shoulder, trying to get him to stand down. They had made a show of good faith, and I was thinking we should too. He growled at me, and I caught him by the scruff and pulled him back a few steps. If he wasn't gonna back down, than he was at least gonna back up. No one ever claimed my brothers weren't overprotective, and while I knew what Cayo was doing and why, it didn't mean he was right to do it. And if I had to kick his fuzzy butt to prove it, I would.

I shot another glance over my shoulder to Teό, and saw he was able to rush the change enough that he was just past the halfway point. Great, I'd have to stall again. I turned back to our 'company', and said the first thing that popped into my head. "So, you're dog's name is Nick?" That caused the blond named Clayton to snap his attention back to me with a glare. "He's not a dog," he snapped in his drawling voice, "but yes, his name is Nick." I heard a chuffing come from the black wolf, and I could SWEAR he was laughing at me. I shot the wolf a glare. I don't like being laughed at. "So, if he's not a dog …" I trailed off, brain refusing to believe what I was just about to ask, "I should assume he's also a werewolf? He's DEFINITELY not a full blooded wolf with THAT coloration." That earned me a glare from both the black wolf named Nick and the blond named Clayton. The black wolf even let out a short low growl. Ok, maybe I deserved that.

"Now, are you gonna be polite and finish introducing yourselves?" the blond named Clayton asked. I glared at him again. It wasn't like I was the one being impolite here. Or at least I didn't think I had been; not yet. I tried to swallow the venom in my voice.

"I already TOLD you, my name is Pίa. If you MUST know, that jag in front of me is my brother Cayo, and the one changing behind me is my brother Teό." I was not about to give him any more information than necessary.

"And am I gonna have to guess at what you are? Or are you gonna be a polite mutt and tell me" the blond countered.

"How DARE you call me a mutt, you sonofa—" I began to charge at him in anger, fist raised to strike him with a punch to the jaw, but was stopped by a hand closing around my ankle. Teό had managed to rush through his change quick enough to be almost completely human, and had reached over to grab my ankle to stop me from charging off again in anger and doing something stupid. I stopped and looked down at him, knowing how much it had to have hurt him to reach out before his change was complete. I knelt down and carefully removed his hand from my ankle, wincing as he hissed in pain. If Teό was willing to hurt himself in order to get me to stop, then I would stop. I let my anger fade as I watched with concern as he finished his change. I knew Cayo would make sure neither of the wolf people would charge us while I was making sure Teό was ok.

A few more agonizing minutes, and Teό's change was complete. I helped him sit up, and he panted for a moment. "Forgive my sister," he all but whispered through his panting, his Spanish lilt coming out more obvious than normal. "She's always been a bit of a hot head." I waited until his breathing had become more normal and helped him to his feet. He allowed me to help him up, but being typical male, would not show any weakness to an outsider afterwards. He stood tall and turned to address the blond named Clayton like a prince greeting a foreign diplomat. "I am Teόdulo San Martίn de Azulcό" he said with an air of nobility. "As my sister Pίa has already stated, I am called Teό, and that is our brother Cayo," he said, gesturing to both me and Cayo. Cayo chuffed in agreement, but still stayed on guard.

"As for what we are, that is a little difficult to translate," he began to explain. "The best way to translate it is as the Hidden," he said, "but that does not tell you what, only who. As you have already seen, we are the Jaguar people. We change into jaguars, much like you change into wolves."

The blond named Clayton gaped at this knowledge. "But that's just a myth!" he replied. "I searched for the Jaguar people in the jungles of Mexico and Central America, and any sign of the Olmec and Aztec cultures remaining among the tribes for years!" He began to take a step forward, but Cayo snarled at him. "The culture died out centuries ago, and all that was left was stories and carvings."

I couldn't resist.

"Well duh, they don't call us the Hidden for nothing," I bantered back. "If we were easy to find, do you think we would have lasted long?" That earned me another glare from the blond and Teό.

"But the anthropomorphic studies done of the region did not show any validation to the Stirling hypothesis of the Jaguar people myth, citing the presence of the Rain Baby's image only in such places as the Tecnochititlάn monuments, and the cultural studies done on the remaining tribes in the vicinity only told rumors of such changing creatures, including the Nagual and other creatures that were clearly mythos such as Quetzalcoatl," continued the blond. Geez, he sounded like a scientist or a professor.

"Watch it," I warned. "That's my ancestry you're badmouthing."

Teό gave me a look, and I immediately knew I needed to shut up.

"Our people were indeed originally part of the Olmec and Aztec cultures, as well as several others lost to time," explained Teό. "When the Spanish conquistadors came, our people were no longer seen as the ultimate protectors and were shunned from their once communities. As outcasts, they melted into the jungle and became a nomadic group for many generations. When the region became more and more settled, our people decided it would be better to try to blend back into the populace, since all knowledge of the Hidden had become mythology." Teό stopped the story of our people there.

The blond named Clayton took a few moments to digest the information. "I see," he said. "I take it that the jaguar is passed down through the male lineage then, just like with the wolf."

"Correct in most cases," replied Teό, "though I assume that your wolf can be passed on by bite, much like our jaguar can" said Teό. The blond grunted a confirmation. I felt like I was stuck in a culture versus research debate in one of my college anthropology classes. Cayo and the black wolf didn't seem to be following the debate, and I wasn't surprised. Wait, why did that name sound familiar…?

"Oh shit! You're THAT Clayton Danvers!" I practically screamed as realization dawned on me. Everyone just looked at me like I had lost my mind.


	4. Chapter 4 What looks like a wolf

Ohmyjeebus, I have a review and FOLLOWERS! Squee! *does happy dance* Thank you so very VERY much for trusting in my ability to actually write a decent story! I promise to do my very very best to not let you down, and possibly update in a timely manner… hopefully.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Kelly Armstrong's original (and truly awesome) characters from the Women of the Otherworld series. I only own the creations that spring from my brain and splatter on the paper as new characters and plot!

Ch. 4 What looks like a wolf, but isn't a wolf

"Oh shit! You're THAT Clayton Danvers!" I practically screamed as realization dawned on me. Everyone just looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Teó, this is the guy that wrote that paper on anthropomorphic subcultures in the tribes of Mesoamerica. You know, the one I referenced for my Anthro paper last year?" I said. I turned to the blond named Clayton "Dude, you had SOO many things wrong in that paper!" I said with a grin. Teó silenced me with a look, but I couldn't help but giggle. Clayton (yeah, I guess I had to start thinking of him as an actual human being now that I actually knew him from somewhere, and he wasn't just that random blond wolf/human anymore) didn't seem to appreciate my criticism, and scowled at me with clenched fists. I kept waiting for him to retaliate.

"Please forgive Pía's rudeness" said Teó. "Mamá always did joke that she inherited the spirit of el coyoté in the body of el lobo". Clayton swung his gaze off me and onto Teό, with a look of astonishment. "You mean she was bitten, right?" he asked, calmly trying to comprehend what Teό was telling him. "She survived a werewolf bite?"

"I'm afraid not, amigo. She comes from a long line of leaders of the wolf women tribe" said Teό. Clayton gaped anew at this knowledge. "Come," Teό said reasonably, "let us all get changed and clothed before more people stumble upon us. We can meet up and discuss this more once we are decent for humanity, and have taken care of the dead."

With a smirk, I patted Cayo's side and directed him off to where we initially changed for our run, and left Teό to work out the details of where to meet and how to deal with the wolf corpse. Cayo went begrudgingly.

Teό had suggested meeting an hour later at the Abe Martin Lodge, since it wasn't too far and still inside Brown County State Park and part of Hoosier National Forest's more human attractions. Of course, as this was one of the only restaurants in the park, this meant that we all had to be in human form, wearing human clothes, and driving up in human cars. It rankled my less human side to be so confined to what my Native American ancestors would call the "white man's laws of society", but I soothed the itch to change by reassuring myself that as soon as these meddling mutts were dealt with (and Professor Clayton Danvers thoroughly schooled on how many mistakes he and his colleagues continued to make in their papers), we'd be back out there in the fur, roaming and chasing the wildlife for fun.

This meant my human side got to come out and play in the meantime.

Usually I don't make much of a distinction between human and animal in my personality, but there are times where one has to hold the other at bay. When dealing with humans in large groups, I have often found myself having to keep control over my animal side, lest I start stalking someone and pounce on them unexpectedly due to them having something I want. I found out at a fairly young age that stalking and pouncing your prey as a human was not socially acceptable. Maybe that's why I ended up going to a dozen different preschools… It probably also didn't help that a few of the class pets went missing for one reason or another after I started attending classes there. What can I say? I've always been a predator, even before I could Change, and most class pets (and preschoolers) don't rank very high on the food chain for me. I think mainly I scared them, but who actually remembers everything from when they were 5 anyway?

With my human in charge, I was still a force to be reckoned with. Smart, sassy, and with (at least around here) very exotic looks, most men pretty much groveled at my knees, and most women were too envious or intimidated by me to give me much of a hassle. Or so I liked to tell myself. Whether or not it was true, I'll never know. All I knew was that those few people that decided to stay around me either worshipped my feet, or were too scared to tell me no, or both. Some people just like being walked on, and those types of people always seemed to gravitate to me. So you can only imagine how THRILLED I was to have people around me that weren't exactly jumping up and down to be my best friend.

Not.

Ok, so maybe it was a little nice to not have every man I talked to outside mí familia become a pile of giddy goo at my feet, but the prospect of not getting my way wasn't exactly making me very happy. My sarcastic and witty banter didn't seem to be winning any points with these mutts, even if some of the males were looking a bit unsettled in my presence.

Their female had apparently gotten to the Lodge first with two other mutts, one of which being the boots named Reece. They had managed to sweet talk the staff into letting us have the little room reserved for private parties, and after ordering a banquet of food that was set up in chafing dishes and a few dozen deserts, the staff had left us alone. I can only assume that they were paid extra for the privacy. I can also only assume they were paid for the use of the back door without questions, as no alarms were going off while we had it propped open.

It kinda made me wonder how a bunch of mutts would have that much money to toss around, since it was obvious the female hadn't been seducing anyone to get her way. Not that she didn't have looks good enough to try, but she had that runner style body that wasn't exactly supermodel worthy. Human men seemed to find the combination of my hourglass curves and long limbs more attractive for some reason. Obviously they had different reasoning in choosing a worthy mate than we did. My looks had gotten me and the boys into more places and out of more scrapes than I cared to admit. Maybe they didn't have that luxury, or maybe they decided throwing money at an issue is more effective than talking your way out of it. We never had the luxury of throwing money at it, but que cera, cera. I'd gladly take advantage of the money they seemed to want to show off if it meant we could get this over with, and I could get a decent meal for once without everyone looking at me like I'd sprouted a second head for eating about half my body weight in food.

That's one of the only things that REALLY sucked about being a female changer. I was expected to be a lady and eat dainty little meals that wouldn't even fill up a pigeon, but the boys and all their muscles could eat a half a cow's worth of meat and no one would even bat an eyelash. Growing boys, they were called, where I was called a slob for wanting two cheeseburgers and fries. Totally not fair. I wonder if their female has similar issues…

By the time the last of their group showed up, I had already loaded my plate twice with roasted chicken, veggies, and potato salad. Northern food always tastes bland to me, but food is food, and I wasn't about to complain about a free all-you-can-eat-without-any-judgment meal. And GAWD FORBID Northerners put a drop of sugar in their ice tea. I made sure to supersaturate mine in hopes of making it half as sweet as I normally like it. With everyone present, the "polite society" side of us kicked in, and introductions were made as nicely as could be expected, despite my irritated feeling at being outnumbered and confined. Besides Professor Clayton Danvers and the lone blond female named Elena that was OBVIOUSLY his, there was the boots named Reece, the black wolf named Nick, and another male named Antonio that looked like he could have been Nick's older brother. Teó took the liberty to introduce the three of us to the newcomers, as he's always been the more polite and sociable of the three of us. Cayo and I merely grunted and waved, respectively. Then again, it wouldn't have been polite for Cayo to talk with that much food crammed in his mouth, and Teó had already warned me that if I couldn't say anything nice, I should keep my big trap shut.

"Down to business" growled Clayton. I guess polite time was over. Fine with me, I wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible so we could get the hell out of there. "Are you gonna sit there all day, or are you finally gonna explain what the hell she is?" he drawled to Teó, while pointing in my direction. Obviously he didn't know the meaning of patience. Or civility. Or manners, for that matter.

"Hey, I DO have a name, ya know" I shot back. I never did like being talked about as if I wasn't there. My remark was met with glares from both Clayton and Teó. Damn, I think I just violated that order to shut the hell up.

Teó calmly looked at Clayton and began to talk.

"As I started to explain earlier, mí hermana Pía is named among the second youngest generation of the Wolf Women tribe. Our cousin's daughter is the youngest, and as the lineage is maternal, the younger generations are venerated and raised by the older. As the tribe is small, it is usually traditional for all generations to be raised knowing each other, and in many cases, living together. As knowledge of the tribe has been limited, even among other Native American tribes, it is considered important to keep track of all those that might be gifted with Father Wolf's blessing." Teó was obviously starting with the lineage and history. I managed to stifle a yawn, but Clayton looked enraptured at the tale. Oddly enough the other mutts seemed pretty interested too, though Reece and Nick kept enjoying sneaking glances over at me. What a bunch of oddballs.

Teó continued. "It is said that when the woman of the Kitsai tribe named Cries with Night was cast out of her village, she wandered for many days and nights through woods and prairies, until she collapsed at the edge of a spring when she could walk no further. As she lay there, Father Wolf came across her as he drank from the spring, and knew he had found something exceptional. 'Little child' he called to her, 'awake and look at me.' Cries with Night woke at his call, and looked up at Father Wolf with fear, but did not move away. 'Wolf,' she asked, 'will you make me your evening meal? If so, why have you awoken me?' Father Wolf was amused by her question, and impressed by her bravery, and answered her thus: 'My child, I will not eat you. You are my child and you have shown strength and bravery. Tell me, why are you wandering alone?' Cries with Night looked at him with sorrow and explained 'My village has cast me out, and I have come here to die. If you are to end my suffering me, please allow me to have my honor so I may go in peace to the next life.' Father Wolf was taken with her honesty, but chuckled at her request. "Child, I shall leave you your honor, even as I end your suffering. Come, you shall be my wife and I will teach you how to run.' Father Wolf then turned to Cries with Night, and gifted her with his form so that they may run together. The female children that were born from the union of Cries with Night and Father Wolf were special to the land, and were also gifted with the knowledge of the spirits and medicine, and like their parents, ran with the creatures of the woods in wolf form. Their heritage lives on in the Wolf Women tribe, and as the eldest female descendant rules the tribe, their lineage is a continuous unbroken tie to Father Wolf and his human mate."

Clayton's jaw had hit the floor by now, but the female named Elena looked at Teó with skepticism. "But isn't that just an old legend?" she asked. Geez, wasn't SHE a doubting Tom… "Perhaps," replied Teó, "but who can say what is legend and what actually happened? My mother's people tell this story to preserve their history as well as to teach that they are gifted with abilities that others are not. The purpose is served, whether or not the story is completely true."

I smirked at their befuddled reactions. Obviously they weren't sure what to think, and I took pride in being an enigma. I wisely kept my mouth occupied with food instead of talking though, as I might be cocky, but I wasn't stupid enough to raise Teó's ire enough to earn a punishment later.

The female named Elena shot an unreadable look at the male named Antonio and at Clayton, and the three of them got up and walked over to the corner, leaving the other two as guards, I guess. Obviously they wanted a private chat, and not everyone was invited. Too bad supernatural hearing pretty much eliminates that possibility unless they wanted to go chat in whispers several yards into the woods from here. I could clearly hear their hushed conversation from where I sat on the other side of the room. And hell yeah I was listening! They want to have a private conversation on the heels of hearing my family history, then obviously it has something to do with me and I wanna know!

"Could that explain the indian's tale in the Legacy?" whispered the female named Elena. How PC of her… "Maybe," replied the big man named Antonio "but the tale never says anything about the walkers being female." Wait, what the hell are they talking about? "We should be asking more questions," grumbled Clayton, "otherwise we'll never get to the bottom of this, and we'll have a whole new set of mutts to deal with." Bottom of what? And did he just call me a mutt? Oh HELL no! I at least I had the common decency to not verbalize my feelings about THEM… or at least not where they could hear them.

"You might as well come ask those damn questions then, and quit hiding in the shadows trying to be secretive" I called in an irritated tone to the three of them huddled together and whispering. "It's not like we can't all hear you anyway." That's when all eyes in the room turned to me. "What?" I asked. "It's true…" But that's not what the looks on the faces told me. Every last one of them was looking at me with astonishment. Even Teó and Cayo had looks like they had no idea what I was talking about, and those same looks told me they hadn't been able to hear the conversation like I had. Damn. Ok, maybe everyone COULDN'T hear it… Who knew that I had better-than-average super hearing?


	5. Chapter 5 More than Meets the Eye

*Does more happy dance* _I love getting new reviews! Thank you SOOO MUCH! I have never written something like this before, so getting criticism (pointing out both the positive and the negative) helps me to know how I'm doing. Just knowing that all of you are reading means a bunch to me too! I promise to try to post on a regular basis, and keep going for as long as people want to read what bubbles out from my brain onto the page!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kelley Armstrong's books. I only lay claim to the bits of my imagination that roams wild and manages to find a home here on the page.**

**Ch 5. More than meets the eye**

They all stared at me for a few moments as if I had suddenly grown a second head.

It was the female called Elena who broke the gaping silence after the realization that I could clearly hear their whispered conversation from across the room. She took a tentative step away from their private circle and slowly walked towards me, and asked "How long has it been since you had your first change?" Her cautious steps made her seem like she was trying to approach a wild animal instead of walking over to little 'ole me, while I sat calmly on the other side of the room. I suspected I knew what she was talking about, but such questions don't exactly have an easy answer for me.

"Which form?" I asked her. She stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at me anew. "What do you mean, 'Which form'?" she replied. Obviously she was more than a bit baffled by what I had just asked her, and what that implied. As I took a glance at the other mutts, I could see they all had the same reaction. Third head… I just had to go and grow a third head, as if two weren't enough… Or so you would have thought by their looks. I took pity on them and gave her a straight answer, so that their little brains could keep up.

"Which form? Wolf, or Jag?"

I swear if I had tapped her with a feather, she would have fallen over. She had blanched almost sheet white, while the other mutts varied from purple to white with looks of pure shock on all their faces. Cayo and Teó were rolling their eyes and face palming, respectively. I knew Teó hadn't offered up the full description of what I am earlier for a very good reason, but at this point, I was already a freak in their eyes, and my feelings were that if I was going to be treated like some sort of lab experiment, then they should know the full of it. That is, of course, that they really wanted to get to know the real ME, and not instantly try and kill me on the spot for being an abomination. A sexy abomination, but an abomination all the same. I knew what I was, and if there was any chance I didn't, mí tíos y tías made sure to let me know whenever they had to be subjected to my presence.

"Y-you have TWO forms?" she finally asked when she had recovered enough from her shock to enunciate. I was trying to being nice to their poor little brains, so I simply replied "Yup, so which one were you asking about?" She blinked and walked over to one of the empty tables and sat down, and began to rub her temples like she was fighting a headache. Clayton looked at his woman trying to process this information, and moved over to stand behind her, and began to rub her shoulders.

"You were bitten, right?" blubbered the boots named Reece from along the back wall. "I mean, you HAD to have been, right? You're FEMALE! If your werecat gene is anything like our werewolf gene, only males are born with the ability… right?" Oh geez, he was such a cute little mutt with such confusion spouting from him in that adorable Australian/British style accent. I just wanted to go over there and pet him and tell him he is a good doggie, and I couldn't wait to see how much cuter it would get when I confused him more. "You are right, the gene is typically passed from father to son. However, I was born with the ability, just like my brothers." I said in order to gently correct him. I do enjoy watching people's brains explode, but I tend to like my explosions go slowly so I can savor every moment. That, and you could tell I just shattered every understanding of were-lineage and melted his brain. Let the scrambling begin!

This time it was the black wolf named Nick that called out from his seat as guard in front of where the three had stood in whispered conversation. "But, you're a GIRL!" he said, "How can that be?" I couldn't help but laugh at him. His very Antonio Banderas-meets-GQ model looks had the most peculiar perplexed look across his face that did nothing for him. It was such an inappropriate look, that it struck me as hilarious. Apparently none of the wolves saw the humor that I did, because quickly they all started growling lowly at me.

Cayo finally decided he'd had enough. He sat up and took his feet down from the table he had propped them up on while slouching in the chair, and interjected his voice into the din of noise. "ENOUGH!" he shouted. His booming voice definitely drew attention. He waited a moment for everyone to settle down and turn their attention to him, and then he turned and address the mutts. "As both my siblings have indicated previously, it is typical for the Jaguar to be passed from father to son. In Pía's case, however, she seems to have inherited the Jaguar form as well as her mother's wolf. We are not certain why, but has been assumed that it is because both of her parents have the ability to change." This seemed to come to the mutts as a shock, and there were a series of unreadable looks passed around between them. "Kate," Clayton whispered with a smirk as he looked at the female named Elena and gave her shoulders a small squeeze. Her head shot up and she stared at me with a look of awe, and something looking like dawning realization passed across her face. I wonder what that was about.

"My name's Pía, not Kate," I said as I glared at the two of them. All the mutts were staring at me again with the same look of awe. As much as I like being treated like a goddess, I was REALLY hoping that they weren't gonna start bowing at my feet and worshipping me. Especially if they couldn't even get my name right. Sexy abomination Goddess was simply one too many titles, thank-you-very-much!

"Kate is the name of our daughter," says the female named Elena softly. Clayton picked up the line of thought. "We weren't sure, but when she was born, we thought she might be a werewolf. We've never been able to confirm it, but we've also never heard of another born female changer" he said with reverence. Oh. So THAT'S why they were looking at me like I was an alien/angel hybrid. "Sweetie, if you think I'm the answers to all of your questions, I'm not. I'm a monster, not some divine gift from a higher deity," I replied, trying to squash their reverence. I don't like being worshipped, no matter what the reason. Those that try, end up getting stepped on when they bend to kiss my feet. "Just because I was born with the ability to change doesn't mean every other girl child born of a union of two changers will…I just know that I was the first to survive in my family," I said, sadly. I couldn't help thinking about Amaya, my older sister, and the horrible way she died. I still miss her.

"She is correct," said Cayo. "My father's clan still tells the tale of the biting of the mate of one of our members that happened about 60 years ago. She was close to giving birth when she was bitten by a feral while visiting her familia. We assume the feral was either trying to experiment, or trying to claim her and her unborn child as his own, but we will never be able to be certain. What we are certain of is that neither the mother nor her daughter survived for long afterwards. The mate initially survived the bite and managed to keep the child through the first Change, but shortly after gave birth to a slightly premature daughter. The Clan managed to get the bebé away from the mate and to a suitable wet nurse, but the child was not normal, and began her own Change within hours of birth. The mate bled to death after giving birth to the child, and the child did not survive the initial change." The gravity of Cayo's words weighed heavily on the mutts, and it was obvious that they were horrified at the atrocity. Mí papá's Clan told this and other such tales to teenage boys and new mates to the clan as a morality story, and as a deterrent against trying to bite non-changers. I assumed that the mutts had their own such stories, but by the looks the five of them were giving us, none of them had ever heard one such as that which Cayo told. "It has always been assumed based on this and other tales," Cayo continued, "that either any child conceived from a bitten female would not survive, or would have to be male, depending on circumstances. Pía's survival has always been attributed to my mother's lineage, and the magic they hold."

Again with the looks like I'd sprouted a third head… Geez, did these people know nothing about other Changers, or even their own lineage? If they had ever showed up at any of the Cat Clan's doors being so unschooled, they would be laughed at and immediately plunked down in the children's classroom to learn like all the other kids. Hmm, I wonder if I could contact the Thunderbird representative of the Council of the Claw to see if he has the history series on PDF to send them… Then again, that would be a bad idea to suddenly draw their attention to me and remind them that the Jag clan has a bounty on my head. Oh yeah, and it might not be a wise idea to draw attention to these mutts that everyone thought were extinct either.

They were still staring at me, and I was staring right back. I decided to break the staring contest.

"Doesn't your little wolfy group of mutts have stories of their own, including those of women being changed?" I asked. "Or better yet, doesn't your head honcho ever tell you the history of your people?" That got their attention, and probably not in a good way. I was done being nice and polite. If they were going to be rude and stare, I was going to be rude right back. They went from staring to glaring, but at least it got at least one of them to talk. "We have a book of our PACK history," ground out the female named Elena, "and as the ALPHA ELECT, I have been taught all the pack history that the ALPHA knows." I had obviously touched a nerve. Never thought that a cult of dog boys would let a woman run them. Progressive! They might have some hope after all, and worth returning to the Council. But first we needed to work on their social and learning skills. "So is that a yes, or no?" I asked.

Clayton gave her shoulders another obvious squeeze. She reached up and put a hand on one of his, and visibly forced herself to calm down. She was the only one, but much like well trained dogs, the others were obviously not going to attack unless I threatened their leader. Once she was calm, leader Elena finally answered my question. "The Legacy holds several stories of women being bitten, most of which were a previous Alpha's experiments in the realm of sexual pleasure. There is one story of a wolf that was attacking a village that had its paw cut off, and when the man who cut off the paw came home, he found his pregnant wife missing a hand. When he killed her and cut open her belly, he found wolf pups instead of children." She paused for a few seconds, as if debating on whether or not to continue. "As for actual known cases of bitten women, I'm the only one." All the mutts then shifted uncomfortably, as if they expected the boys and me to respond with outrage. Their eyes darted between the three of us, waiting to see some response. I smirked, which caught and held the black wolf named Nick's attention. I shifted in my chair, pulling one leg up under me and leaned on the table still in front of me, and the one named Nick began to look like he might pounce. "Honey, we already knew that," I said to leader Elena. That immediately got all their attentions, and they gaped anew at me in shock. "But, how?" she asked. I had to laugh a little at that. "Sweetie, bless your little heart, it's so obvious! As your little foreign pet over there said so very succinctly earlier, you're female, and only males are born with the ability to shift forms." I can imagine that they all felt a little stupid and silly right about then. Obviously the reason why they had been shocked was because they had thought I knew some other detail about her being bitten, but I wasn't about to pry into it. I'd heard the old stories about bitten Changers before, and I knew that the experience wasn't one that most people would willingly re-live with anyone. If I could save her the pain of reliving that, I would.

I decided to shift gears in the topic.

"So, what you're telling me is that you guys have no clue about your history then. That the only thing you have is a book full of legends, and a few stories beyond that, of which are exclusively held by your Alpha," I half-asked while sitting back in my chair in disbelief, reiterating what they had just told us. Leader Elena nodded softly. Wow, even the Ferals tended to pass down more information from generation to generation. Contacting the Thunderbird representative was getting more and more appealing. He'd always been known as a lenient, but fair Council member, and a pretty damn good historian. Maybe he would listen to my request before contacting the Cat Clan's representatives… Then again, to the Council, I was just a myth, and since I've never been allowed to meet anyone who wasn't family, who's to say he would trust me, a stranger claiming to be the one thing they would not think possible? And more so, bringing along behind me an entire extinct clan back from the dead and plop them smack dab on the middle of their radar? Yeah right, I would have a better chance of survival by going to the media and telling them I could change into a cat.

Teó and Cayo must have been contemplating about the same thing. I briefly caught them doing their twin-y stare that meant they were, as I liked to call it, "mind-melding" on an issue and deep in mental discussion. Whether or not they had telepathic abilities, I never knew, but it sounded cool, and seemed to explain why they did some of the things that the did, like finish each other's sentences and talk in unison. When their mental chat was done, Teó, the more level headed of the two, got up and pulled out his cell phone. Cayo leaned over and whispered one word: Papá. Damn, they're good. If they really did have telepathic abilities, I must have been broadcasting my thoughts loud and clear.

I could hear the phone ringing, and I heard Papá pick up. "Papá, necesito información tuya. Tenemos encuentras algo interesante..." I heard Teó say, telling Papá that we needed information about something interesting we came across. I knew he'd be able to tell Papá just enough of the story to get the result we needed. In the meantime, I was going to get more answers.

"Why don't one of you tell me what you all are doing traipsing around the woods in Indiana." I asked causally. "After all, I thought the Council declared all the states bordering the Great Lakes to be neutral territory, and a no-kill zone." Leader Elena looked at me with confusion. "The Supernatural Council made no such declaration. As the werewolf delegate, I would have been part of that vote, and we DEFINITELY wouldn't have given up our territory in New York. Besides, how do YOU know about the Supernatural Council, and I've never heard about you?"

Now it was my turn to be confused and angry. "The WHAT Council? Are you sure you're speaking English? There is only one council that declares territory, and that's the Council of the Claw. And I KNOW you're not a delegate there, because they consider you to be extinct!" These people have lost their ever lovin' minds, and I was gonna make sure to set them straight while they still had the look of confusion on their faces too. "What kind of people are you? Making up names of councils just to hide you're reasonings… It just ain't right! And that NAME! Makes me think of demons, goblins and witches, and the next thing you're gonna tell me is that they are real too!"

"Except for the goblins, they are," replied the wolf named Nick with a grin. I just about fell out of my seat.


	6. Chapter 6 No news isn't always good news

_I am so VERY sorry for the wait! Things in my life kinda exploded, and I haven't had the time that I used to in order to sit down and write. Without further ado, Ch. 6!_

**DISCLAIMER: I neither own nor profit from the GLORIOUS characters of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. I only borrow and mentally molest them, and pair them with my own flirtatious mind ramblings and plots!**

Ch. 6 No news isn't always good news

"Except for the goblins, they are," replied the wolf named Nick with a grin. I just about fell out of my seat.

"WHAT?" I screamed.

With a hand on the wolf named Nick's shoulder to silence him, the male named Antonio took up the topic from there. "My son is correct. Witches and demons do exist, and are part of the Supernatural council. Or at least half demons and witches are. Sorcerers and vampires also have representatives on the council, as well as others" he said.

This time I really did fall out of my seat, and Cayo had to pick me up off the floor. "I knew about brujas and shamans being real, but—" I began to say as I was getting up, but the male named Antonio held up his other hand to stop me from continuing.

"We can discuss more about the Supernatural representatives later, but first I would like to know more about this Council of yours that you spoke of," he said. "Who are they, and why do believe that werewolves are extinct?"

"The only council I'VE ever heard about before today is the Council of the Claw," I replied. "You know, the one set up to issue territory, settle disputes between clans, and set the universal laws for all Changers?" I looked at them, hoping to see some dawning realization, but saw only blank looks and more confusion. "The UN of the Changers?" I tried again. Still nothing. "Oh geez, you really have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?" I asked, with a little panic starting to set in. The mutts all shook their heads. We were so screwed once the Council found out about them. I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. "The reason why the council thinks werewolves are extinct is because they haven't been heard from in the more than a hundred years. They were thought to have killed each other off, or been killed off by other Changers since they lost the protection of the Council about 600 years ago when they suddenly left the council," I said, lifting my head back up to judge the reaction of this group of unknown Changers. Geez, this was about as much fun as telling someone that their favorite Aunt actually died 10 years ago in one of those bad nursing homes people tell stories about, and that their Mom has been forging her signature on their birthday cards from her all these years.

One look at their shocked faces sent me pacing the floor behind me, pulling my hands through my hair and muttering in Spanish about how much of an idiota I was to tell them. Cayo returned to his chair, and Teó was still trying to talk Papá into getting us the information we wanted, and assuring him that we weren't doing anything TOO estupido, so he didn't notice the tension that sprang up in the room. The mutts shot each other looks, and all five of them got up and headed for the door and out into the back lot of the restaurant. Clayton flashed us a "Stay" look, expecting us to obey like dogs. I glared in response, but kept pacing. Obviously they wanted a little more privacy than they had thought they had during their last pow-wow, and I wasn't going to begrudge them the image of that. Too bad they forgot that the last time they were closer, but were whispering to keep their voices low. This time they were much further away, but still using normal voices.

It was a little harder to hear, but I still caught the odd phrase here and there from their conversation, despite the distance. Leader Elena's voice was the hardest for me to hear, since her alto range voice didn't carry as far as the rumbling of the males' deeper baritone, tenor and bass. Clayton's was the easiest to hear, since it was obvious he was not happy, and not caring to keep his voice low. But just because I could catch a few words here and there, doesn't mean I had a clue of what those words meant. All I could tell was that I had dropped a bomb of information on them, and they were doing their best to deal with it, and trying to tell if we were yanking their legs, or telling the truth. There was obviously more, and it had something to do with safety and the mutt Cayo killed. That was made very clear by Clayton's roaring things like "Don't you DARE try to tell me that Kate and Logan's safety isn't as important!", but how that had anything to do with what we had discussed today was beyond me.

10 minutes later, the mutts were still having their "discussion", I was still wearing a hole in the ancient petrified vinyl flooring with my pacing while further disheveling my hair, Cayo was napping in the chair he had been sitting in, and Teó finished convincing Papá to not fly out here and drag us all home by our ears, as well as to pull the right strings (that he didn't know I could have pulled if I wanted to) in order to get the information we needed sent to us. I knew that Teó and Papá would arrange it to use one of the disposable email addresses that we regularly set up, and that I could expect a PDF form or three to be there in another 10 minutes. I probably could have gotten more information faster if I had pulled out all the stops, but I didn't feel like burning those connections just yet. I might have been physically sheltered my whole life and kept from other changers, but the World Wide Web provided me with plenty of ways to reach out and touch someone with more than a little anonymity. Sometimes, it pays to be a technophreak, and I had managed to build up quite a network of friends, allies, and acquaintances in all sorts of social circles over the past 10 years by being one. Better to use legitimate sources to get the information right now than for me to call in my contacts and either risk hostility in the future, or risk exposure now.

My phone chirped at me, and I stopped my pacing long enough to get it out of my back pocket and look at the message the chirp denoted. My sleek new Android phone was hacked to do things no other Android phone was ever designed to do. It was one of the few high-dollar items I had, and I always made sure my electronics were top of the line, even if it meant making modifications after purchasing them. There are just some things you can't do with Apple's overpriced I-crap, and the extra programming on my phone was one of them. This time, the chirp was telling me that one of my hacker contacts from my changer network was trying to reach me through a back door messenger system. I glanced out the door at the mutts, and seeing that they were still deep in "conversation", I moved out of direct view into the corner of the room and began the process of checking the message in what little relative privacy that I could achieve in such an open room. What I read when I had the message fully pulled up had me sliding down the wall.

_~Tr1J4nu5~,_

_Hidden in danger. Tribal Shaman loose. Possible companions. Going after all females. Already stolen 2 from Fox and Lion._

_Stay safe._

_xXeroKitSunEx_

Oh shit! I need to get the word out mi familia…

OH SHIT!

FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCK **FUCK**!

Realization smacked me in the face, and I took a few moments to hyperventilate in the corner before I finally got up the courage to go face off with what I was pretty sure was going to be an angry lobo mamá y papá, being backed up by three very pissed off mutts. I got up off the floor and double-timed it through the room and out the door. As I slid to a stop just outside their pow-wow circle, I earned myself a few glares, probably because they either thought I was being nosy, or pushy. Cayo and Teó were hot on my heels, which probably didn't help. One look at my face though, and those glares disappeared.

"She was taken, wasn't she," I said to Clayton and leader Elena.

Leader Elena turned and stared at me wide-eyed, and Clayton practically snarled out "What do you know about it? Were you three involved?" Oh yeah, he was pissed. The others must have taken their cue from Clayton's anger and decided to circle us. Cayo began hissing at them, but I held up a hand to warn them all off. Their males were being remarkably focused and non-molesty, but that probably was because they were amping up for a fight, which meant that later I'd be fighting them off for a different reason. Great. The boys and I would deal with that later. Right now, I needed an answer, and my nerves were strung too tight to care about anything else.

"Am I right? She was taken?" I asked again, trying to be calm. This time, it was leader Elena who answered.

"Someone tried to take her, and our son Logan managed to slow them down and warn us in time. Kate is with our Alpha and the rest of the pack currently, but Logan was severely injured while trying to save his sister. We tracked one of the two individuals here, and I understand your brother did us the favor of killing him. Or were you trying to protect yourselves by killing your accomplice?" She shot me a hard look, much like a momma bear that just had someone threaten her cub. Her nostrils flared, and I knew she was making sure she had never smelled any of us before; making sure that none of us had been her daughter's kidnapper, or her son's assailant. It's what I would have done in her shoes.

I sighed and showed her the message on my phone. She looked at it, clearly confused at what I was trying to tell her with the less-than-clear message. "I just got this message from another changer," I told her. "There's a tribal Shaman on the loose, and apparently he or she is kidnapping females from the various changer clans. I fear that's what may have happened with your daughter, though how the Shaman knew about her is beyond me."

I heard Cayo gasp, and soon after I heard him run back inside. I knew he'd be calling la familia, and getting the word out to Jaguar clan and the Hidden. Usually Teó would be the one to call, but Cayo was sweet on the daughter of one of the elders of Jaguar clan, and I knew he'd need to reassure himself that she was safe. I felt Teó touch my arm, and I passed my phone over to him. Apparently I had stolen the show again, and everyone wanted to see the email for themselves. Even the male mutts ringed around the soft glow of my screen, ignoring the fact that 30 seconds ago they were more than willing to do irreparable damage to me and the boys, or anyone else that might have been party to the kidnapping.

Leader Elena's shoulders slumped a little, and I really wished I knew what she was thinking. Clayton gave her quick squeeze on her shoulders, probably for reassurance that everything would be ok. It was odd how he could seem so caring for his mate, and be so angry at me and the rest of the world at the same time. His hard steely glare made it perfectly clear that he wasn't done suspecting me and the boys.

"You still haven't told us if you three were involved", he drawled with a sneer.

I sighed, but replied as calmly as I could. 

"I would THINK that the fact that I just got a WARNING, and mi hermano just took off to call his GIRLFRIEND Y MI FAMILIA to PASS ON that warning, it would be OBVIOUS, even to a mutt like YOU that we AREN'T INVOLVED." I grit out through my clenched jaw.

Oh yeah, I was in a bad mood, and he was pissing me off even more with his attitude. He was DEFINITELY the kind of professor who got his house egged on a regular basis, and probably got told off more than once by a student. I ground my teeth, and pushed back a snarl of my own. He just crossed his arms over his well muscled chest, and continued to glare at me with a growl. I felt my nails start changing into claws in response.

All of a sudden, Lady Gaga's Bad Romance started blaring from my phone as it started ringing in Teó's hand. Dammit, I'm gonna have to get the boys to stop playing around with my phone. Cayo had no sense of taste in music, and insisted on listening to top 40. He also liked to change my ringers, just to annoy me. Teó's taste in music was almost as bad, with his preferences being for country music and classical. I preferred a good, dark rock song any day, and Lady Gaga was like nails on a chalkboard to me. However, it was just the stress breaker that was needed, and most of the mutts burst out laughing as the music played. I ripped the phone from Teó's hand and glared at the screen. I didn't recognize the number, so I just shut off the ringer and let it go to voicemail. Not so easy to do on a touchscreen without ruining the phone when your fingernails are more like claws… Good thing I'm a girl and have PLENTY of experience with working around freshly painted nails. Oddly enough, that gives a changer gal just the experience she needs to learn how to avoid her claws when extended. I guess it's kinda like wax on, wax off… Too bad I didn't get my own Mr. Miyagi in order to teach me these things too. The Hidden change all at once, or not at all, so I had to learn the little things like that the hard way.

"Now that the tension is broken, can someone PLEASE explain to me what's happening?" called the boots named Reece from behind me. Oh wow, someone that WASN'T clued in.

"They weren't the ones that tried to take Kate or hurt Logan, and I think Pía here might be in as much danger as Kate and I are" clarified leader Elena. "However, I think they have more information on this than they are giving on both this Shaman, and the kidnappers" she continued, and turned to look expectedly at Teó and me with her hands on her hips. She must have been giving us her best Mom look, because I was definitely beginning to feel like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Teó threw his hands up and backed away. "Don't look at me, I know as much as you do" he said. Great. My own brother threw me under the bus. Again.

I took a deep breath and, with a small sigh, I began telling them what little I knew.

"A tribal Shaman is someone from one of the Native American tribes who has discovered the powers that some humans can wield and all humans have ties to, and have decided to build up that power for either personal or tribal use. These individuals were once called Medicine Men by the white European settlers, but are in actuality something more akin to what is called magicians or sorcerers, though without the spell book or funny hats." I paused, trying to keep the childhood image out of my head of Tiger Lily and her clan from Peter Pan dressed up like Mickey Mouse from the Sorcerer's Apprentice tale in Fantasia, and waving magic wands at levitating books while chanting in the old language and making sacrifices of teddy bears to the old Gods. Mamá had always thought it was better for us to laugh at the scary things than be afraid of them. I blame her for my sick and twisted sense of humor nowadays.

I went on, letting the gravity of the situation, and the burden of the knowledge weigh heavy on my shoulders, effectively removing my previous childish thought. "Shamans have traditionally passed their knowledge down from one generation of Shaman to the next, but not all knowledge has been recorded, and not all Shamans pass on their most potent rituals. The rituals usually require some kind of sacrifice, either physical, spiritual, material, or energy, in order to function. The strongest sacrifice is always death, for it makes for the most potent black magic." Leader Elena let out a small gasp at this. I let my deep brown eyes lock with her icy blue ones, registered the shock she was feeling, and knew she was fearing what every mother would fear: the death of her children. "Energy is the next most potent," I continued, "as it is what drives the body. Most Shamans will use ritualistic sex or other physical activities to use energy in their spells. This leaves their 'donor' alive, but can leave them dangerously exhausted." Leader Elena's eyes widened more at this knowledge, and I broke eye contact with her before I dared see any more fears go through her. "Physical comes next, usually in the form of blood letting, or a hunk of flesh. Sometimes it is an animal, or food, that is used in place of one's body, but those are only slightly more potent than material. Material is the least potent, but the most binding, and is usually used in curses and potions." I finished my recitation on Shamanistic magic, and waited…

I guess I expected to be shunned, or stoned to death, or SOMETHING. But all I got was silence. I bit my lip, and looked up, not sure what I would see. Instead of anger, I saw confusion, and looks on faces like everyone was trying to process the bomb I just dropped on them.

"How do you know all of this?" the male named Antonio finally asked. I looked over into his soft brown eyes, and answered him truthfully.

"Mi Mamá was trained to be the next bruja of her tribe, before she ran off with Papá. Brujas and tribal Shamans used to work together at one point, but now hate each other because the nature of a Bruja is to help the people, where as Shamans tend to only help themselves. Mamá tried to train me in the ways of the Bruja, including to know one's enemy, but I guess I don't have the touch because I never succeeded in wielding the magic." I said the last part shyly. It's one of the only things I've ever completely failed at, and I wasn't proud of it. "She always says I have such potential, and that mi hermanos y mi hold more magic than any other human. I think it has something to do with being changers."

I had my theories on why we were so 'energetic', just like I had my theories on how the changer gene is a recessive dominant gene on the X chromosome, but the Hidden's power lies in the mitochondrial DNA (which is why it can only be passed through matrilineal heritage). But, this was not the time or place to be discussing the theories of the biological and genetic ramifications of what is commonly (though mistakenly) called lycanthropy. I stuck to only the bare bones basics that the mutts needed to know, and got on with my next point.

"I think that the girls are being taken for some kind of sacrifice" I blurted out.

That got all of their attention.


End file.
